The helicopter wasn’t letting go of her now. She jumped and twirled and sang along to a barely average song as she blasted another ugly monster and kept moving without a care about the blood. It kept up no matter where she went, which forced her to give a cute smile to every other girl she ran past and high-five one or two on the way.

  Normally, Kana should not have had any issues with this at all. Living in front of the camera was the only way you made sure someone picked you up. But stay in view for too long, and you become the obvious pick. The recruiters would start looking at you as the ‘popular pick who will be too much of a hassle’ and always try for second best. She reloaded the grenade launcher and shot, barely missing a girl with a simple revolver in her hand.

  Before she could say anything, Kana made her weapon disappear and clumsily ran to her.

  “Oh my god! I can’t believe I just did that. Are you alright? You look so pretty!” She squeed, “I would never forgive myself if I hurt your pretty face.”

  The girl shook her head and looked up with an awkward smile, brushing the blood and dust off her green dress, “Oh no, it is fine. I am perfectly okay! Thank you for your concern.”

  Kana was about to reprimand her in secret with a quick whisper, but the moment she locked eyes with the girl, she got rid of the idea. With simple brown hair that only went down to her shoulders, she had a cute little black beret on her head. The girl smiled and bowed a little.

  Pretty, pretty, pretty. Kana felt her face beginning to redden.

  “It was my fault too, Minami-san! I should have paid attention to you, especially when you are playing such a melodious tune too.”

  “Melodious?” She almost broke character with the way that left her mouth. Almost a slur. Because by all means, it should have been. Just like all the other songs on her playlist, Ruby Passion was the band that was playing right now. The worst band in the entire damn industry.

  By her standards, at least. Everyone else seemed to just love them for some reason.

  “Yes! I love Ruby Passion. They’re all so dreamy, aren’t they?”

  “Uh…sure.” Kana nodded and smiled, “Y-yeah! I just looooveee all of them. I am so, so, so inspired by the lead singer and want to become just like her. Do you know she has a ten-million-dollar summer vacation home in Okinawa!?”

  “Eh?” The girl put her hands on her mouth, “Really? I never checked, to be honest. But yeah, that sounds exactly like them. Ruby Passion is just the most talented band ever. I want to be like them, too.”

  Busy staring into the girl’s eyes, however, she was immediately interrupted by a flash in the back.

  “Look out!”

  Kana raised her launcher and blasted the enemy that had managed to sneak up on them.

  Monster Kill +30

  Explosion Kill +15

  The blood and guts of the enemy splattered all over them as the girl yelped and hid her head between her hands. Kana, however, did not even blink. She just wiped the blood off her eyes and stuck her tongue out for the camera, “Oh my, I am so sorry about that! Your dress is completely ruined!”

  That last part she definitely meant. This girl was genuinely beautiful, and it was a shame that her dress had been covered in blood now. Just looking at her, Kana could make out that she wasn’t a Jina type of idol. She probably just actually wanted to be an idol, and had gotten stuck monster hunting instead. The poor girl had a revolver, for god’s sake.

  “Once more, it is completely alright.” She shook her head, “My dress isn’t as precious as my life. I am so grateful that you saved me!”

  “What is your name?”

  Kana bit her tongue the moment the question left her mouth. She hadn’t intended to actually ask that. It wasn’t even a calculated question. Just her actual feelings. Still, now that it was out, she put on a genuine face and waited for an answer.

  “Nobuko Kimura!” she replied with a bow.

  “Ah, Nobuko-chan, is it?”

  Nobuko nodded with red ears. Kana surveyed her surroundings. But other than them, the helicopter and the grating voice of Ruby Passion, there was absolutely nothing to be seen here. Nothing to even help distract the announcer on the helicopter. It was like the universe was conspiring against her on all levels.

  If she stayed on camera for too long, that would be terrible. If she started talking to Nobuko in earnest (which she wanted to do because Nobuko was just that, that, that cute), she would lose her chance to show off. And if she decided to team up with the girl, it would cause her own rankings to fall.

  If a recruiter liked a pair together, then they would spend way too much to get them, and thus block out other recruiters. If there was no competition, she would just be taken by whichever fat bastard had stanned them enough. She needed to come up with something, and she needed it quick.

  “M…minami-san?”

  “Oh, don’t worry, Nobuko-chan. You can just call me Kana!”

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  “Yes, Kana! I mean, uh, never mind. Just look!”

  The girl looked up and instantly broke into a crooked smile. She thanked the gods that the camera didn’t have that angle, because she was probably grinning like a madman. The view might have scared Nobuko, but it was pure gold for her. She would win everything like this.

  Her music had done its work. Not only in keeping attention on her, but in attracting more than human eyes. From the distance, rose a wave of dust. Below that wave were what looked like hundreds of demons. Precisely what she needed. Big enemies, big massacre, big blood, and big time plays to prove her likability. And now, she also had the bonus of being able to disappear whenever she needed.

  “Ha! This is easy, Nobuko-chan! Just watch and get that gun up. Shoot, shoot, shoot!”

  She jumped up in the air with that final word and readied her grenade launcher for when they got close enough. Nobuko looked at her and nodded. Hesitating a bit, the girl aimed her gun at the approaching horde and held her breath. Kana raised the launcher a bit so that the projectile travelled far, and shot once. Holding her ground now that she had gotten used to the recoil, she laughed as the grenade flew and landed right on the demons’ frontline.

  The flames painted the scenery, and the data popped up on the small screen on her gun.

  Monster Kills +390

  Explosion Kills +15

  Thirteen whole kills. Thirteen. And already, she had gotten more than that kill-stealer had taken from her. Sure, the fact that the explosion only gave her points once was very annoying and made her want to strangle the creator of this dumb system to death, but she nodded and accepted it. The camera was watching.

  “Wow!” Nobuko whispered, and then shot once. The bullet went all the way to the front and hit one single enemy. It fell to the ground, and the girl laughed with joy.

  “I got one!” She looked at Kana with a precious little smile.

  Oh, how…cute!

  Kana held her giddiness and walked forward as she shot more grenades. Every time one left the barrel, and that satisfying pop hit her ears, she felt waves of happiness wash over her. Each one of them now had more kills and more attention. She started singing along to the Ruby Passion song, bad though it was, and timing her shots with the beat drops.

  Nobuko slowly followed her and started doing the same. Oh, perfection. This was perfection. A short team-up that would allow her to show off her group dynamics, and then she could enact her plan later. For now, she enjoyed dancing around with that girl. Dodging her gunshots and weaving around her leg movement with her own as she shot out grenades, and the points kept on adding up – keeping the streak moving and moving.

  The demons approached closer and closer, but there was no need to worry. They were falling, by the dozens. The twenty-kill streak crossed, and a small celebration on the gun’s screen made her laugh. But that too, she kept in tune with the song. Yes. Nobuko was getting kills, too. Somehow, no matter what part of the body her bullet hit, the enemy died. Good for her, Kana thought. She herself didn’t need such luck.

  Finally, as the demons slowly started to die down in numbers and reach fifty or so left, she quietly whispered.

  “Nobuko-chan…slow down.”

  “Huh? What happened, Kana?”

  “Don’t kill them too quickly now. Keep it slow.”

  “Oh…alright!”

  She smiled, and Kana’s heart melted once more. Since she had also stopped, the points finally came together and popped up on her screen.

  Monster Kills +1110

  Explosion Kills +165

  The plan now was simple. She would get cocky and take her railgun out for a flashy finish. But then her stupid clumsiness would cause her to miss such an important shot, and the demons would get closer. She would panic-switch to her grenade launcher and accidentally make all the dust around them go flying because of the random, scared shooting.

  Boom! Perfect cover for her to escape with Nobuko for now and get to know her better. And then, when the moment was right, she would appear in front of the camera once more. Everyone who had been worried about her fate would be relieved, and her survival after that clumsiness would become a massive selling point. It almost made her laugh. From where did she gain such genius?

  Not her mother, that was for sure.

  “Watch this, Nobuko-chan!” Then, she turned to the camera and waved, “Watch this, everyone!”

  With a shout, she happily took the railgun out and held it in her hands. Ooh, the power of holding it sent shivers down her spine. It was tough, massive, and imposing. Kana had once thought she would use this for some big boss, but this was the answer she had ended up with. Well, at the end of the day, the goal was just to get signed.

  She pressed the button on the side, and the weapon began to charge up. It took some time, which was perfect to build up that panic in everyone. Nobuko was already switching looks from her to the camera and then to the horde. The camera was probably zooming in on them as the recruiters locked in and leaned in to watch. She turned her head away from the camera and barely held on to her excitement.

  Five more seconds left. Her hands reached for the trigger and took quick breaths.

  And then, thud!

  Not her. Not Nobuko. Obviously not the helicopter. No. It was that stupid fucking bitch again. Out of nowhere, Jina Ohara had come jumping into the fight with her weapons. This time, though, she was holding a massive hammer that was almost thrice her size. With a smile, she looked back and winked at them with a thumbs-up.

  “Demons! Today I will show you the power of friendship and teamwork! Do not mess with us!!”

  Then, with a jump, she brought down the head of the weapon and shattered the ground. Literally shattered the ground and sent an earthquake-like ripple all over the land. Kana and Nobuko stumbled, and the railgun in her hand slowly went out of balance. It had completely loaded up too! What kind of timing was this?

  Multiple loud sounds filled her ear as demons died and the land groaned. Nobuko brought her hand to her mouth and covered it out of shock. And while Kana was busy trying to figure out why, Jina got done stealing those fifty final kills and turning to them with another bright smile.

  “Wasn’t that awesome, Kana-chaaaaa…what the fuck did you do?!?!?”

  “What do you mean, Ohara-san? Don’t use such language!”

  “Shut up and look behind you, you stupid bitch.”

  Begrudgingly, Kana listened to her and looked back. Once she did, her body lost all energy. She brought the railgun up and sighed. All the energy in it was gone. The earthquake hadn’t only caused her weapon to slip, but she had also pressed the trigger and taken that beam of death to the one place it should not have gone.

  She put the weapon back in her inventory as Nobuko rushed to the helicopter crash site to check on everyone else. With Ruby Passion still annoyingly playing on her neck, Kana cursed her luck.